I lay sprawled across the cracked stone, vision swimming, watching Manny clash with the masked enigma. Their strikes rang out like thunder—fist against steel, sparks cutting the darkened square.
"Who are you?" Manny barked, teeth gritted.
The figure steadied, blade flashing. "Retribution."
Manny's gaze locked on the sword—Eqihr's blade. "Where did you get that?"
The enemy's voice carried no hesitation. "From the leader of the Five Serpents."
Their weapons and fists collided again, neither side giving ground. When they broke apart, Manny demanded, "Where's Eqihr?"
The stranger offered no answer. Only steel.
Something gnawed at me as I watched—Manny wasn't using a medium. Every enhanced soul needed one, an anchor for power. But my brother fought barehanded, no conduit, only raw will. His strength scared me almost as much as his enemy's.
The figure soared skyward, raising the dragon-handled sword high before plunging. The blade cut through the air like a meteor.
Manny rolled aside, barely evading the thrust. He drew his arm back, locking it into position. His special attack. He'd never named it, but I'd seen it—enough power to level blocks.
He locked eyes with his foe. "We don't have to fight. There's another way."
The enemy laughed in his face. "Peace? From a bastard like you?"
The insult tore something in Manny. He charged, fist glowing.
The enemy lowered the blade, both hands on the hilt, steady in the center of their chest. "Last chance. Yield the Yin power."
Manny didn't slow.
Steel and flesh collided. For a split second, I thought the fight was over. Then—the figure vanished, reappearing behind Manny, sword thrust forward with impossible speed.
He wouldn't have time to evade. The strike would kill him.
I moved. My body surged with strength I didn't know I still had. I leapt, throwing myself between them. The blade pierced my chest. Manny fell backward, horrified.
The enemy wrenched at the sword, struggling to free it. I seized their mask, yanked it off.
A woman's face glared back at me.
She kicked free, ripping the blade from my body. "You'll regret that," she hissed. Her stance lowered, sword dangling at her side. Then she lunged.
I threw a punch, the ring channeling raw force. Air cracked. She was hurled into a wall.
Manny exploited the moment, darting in with his charged fists. She slipped, rebounded, and kicked him back into the square.
I leapt forward, shielding him.
Her body vibrated as a faint blue aura spiraled around her. The ground trembled.
"Phantom One!"
Her aura burst, twisting into a monstrous form of light and fury. The atmosphere turned suffocating, every instinct screaming danger.
We fled—across rooftops, away from the vortex of power. Manny's voice was grim. "We don't stand a chance. Not like this."
I agreed. She was sharper, faster, and more trained than either of us.
But she hunted relentlessly. She drove Manny into a wall, slammed me into the fountain. Pain vanished as my body healed, but my resolve cracked.
She laughed, monologuing about the Five Scales, about their uprising, about war without end. Manny answered her with his strongest strike, sending her spiraling—but she clung to a rooftop with her blade, defiant.
Together we pressed the attack, strike after strike. She dodged, countered, and smirked at our desperation. Manny clipped her leg; I spun and landed a kick to her face. She caught my foot midair, twisted, and flung me into Manny, driving us both into another wall.
Then everything shifted.
From behind me, a dark aura pulsed. Heavy. Viral. It coiled up my spine, unmistakable.
Manny.
I turned. His body was… different.
Hair is jet black, spiked upward. Fangs sharp against his lip. Dark markings crawl across his skin like veins of ink. One eye burned with the Yin symbol itself, his body sprouting twisted branches of energy.
"Impossible," the girl gasped.
Manny blurred forward at light speed. She barely evaded, but he rebounded, punching her through walls.
Her confidence fractured. She fought defensively now.
Manny slammed his fist into the ground. A blade of aura formed above it, glowing, humming with destruction. He wielded it as though born to it.
The girl snarled. "Impudent." She stabbed her sword into the soil. Dozens erupted from the ground, a forest of blades.
Manny leapt high, his aura sword crashing down. The conjured blades rusted, collapsed, vanished.
She abandoned her weapon, turned to hand-to-hand combat. Each strike came faster, sharper. But Manny was beyond her. His movements bent time, his strikes unavoidable.
Until suddenly, they weren't. His aura flickered. His body stilled. He collapsed, unconscious.
The woman froze, disbelief twisting into satisfaction. She smiled slowly, stepped toward him.
"Looks like this ends here," she whispered. Her sword hovered above his chest.
She looked up at me, eyes cruel. "Surrender… or he dies."
I stood, chest heaving, mind fractured. Manny, limp before me. The enemy's blade is ready.
I lowered my gaze. Doubt strangled me.
"Fine," I said hoarsely. "I give—"